Beijing Dance Academy is a full-time institution of higher learning with commitment to developing excellent professional dancers, choreographers and dance researchers. Founded in 1954, the former Beijing Dance School was the first professional dance school ever established since the founding of People’s Republic of of China. Beijing Dance Academy was officially established in 1978 with the approval of State Council, as an institution affiliated to the Ministry of Culture. In 2000, it’s governance was transferred to Beijing Municipal Government. The Academy provides BA and MA degrees and has become the only institution of higher learning for professional dance education in China, as well as the largest prestigious dance school with comprehensive concentrations in the world.

The Academy, known as “the cradle of dancers” and adjacent to the picturesque Zizhuyuan Park, has admitted and graduated numerous students with fierce ambition of dance. Currently, it has about 600 in-service faculty and staff, and 2500 full-time students apart from over 5000 students from the School of Continuing Education. Every year, the School of Dance Grade Education trains over 50,000 teachers of dance grade examination at home and abroad, and nearly 500,00 students the examinations at different levels.

With commitment to building a world-class dance university with Chinese characteristics, the Academy now provides such divisions as the Department of Chinese Classical Dance, the Department of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dance, Ballroom dance Department, Ballet Department， Musical Department, Creative School（consisting of departments of Choreography, Modern Dance, Art Design）, Humanities School (consisting if departments of Dance Studies, Art Communication, General Education, and Ideological and political Science), Education School, BDA Youth Dance Company, School of Continuing Education, School of Dance Grade Examination and Affiliated Secondary School of BDA, involving academic areas of dance performance, dance studies,choreography, dance education, art design,etc.